


Tea for Three

by silveronthetree



Category: Batgirl (Comics), DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 10:40:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2809382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveronthetree/pseuds/silveronthetree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People change, but Cass thinks that friendships don't. She's about to find out if that's true.<br/>In which Cass introduces Steph to the wonder of tea and they take a road trip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tea for Three

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aflightoffancy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aflightoffancy/gifts).



The Sereni-Tea isn't Cass's favourite café. She may go there every day she's back in Gotham, but it isn't her favourite. The staff may know her well enough to prepare her order before she asks but it isn't her favourite. She's memorised the list of tea written on the wall behind the café's counter so she doesn't have to struggle to read it every time, but it still isn't her **favourite**.

There's another café that still holds that position.

Steph pushes open the door of Sereni-Tea with one hand and holds the door open for Cass to enter before her. "So, this is where you come every morning?" she asks. She pulls off her hat and pushes her bright, windswept hair out of her eyes as she walks through the door. 

"If I'm in Gotham," Cass replies. They'd broken up a bar fight last night after Cass dropped in at the end of Steph's patrol the night before. They'd ended up covered in beer, so Steph had suggested meeting before her morning class when they didn't smell so much like a brewery. She'd told Cass to pick the place so Cass chose the one place she knew well enough – Sereni-Tea. The café is warm and she can smell cinnamon in the air. 

The woman behind the counter finishes serving a student with a laptop under his arm and catches sight of Cass. "Cassandra!" she says with a warm smile that hides the worry in her eyes. "It's been too long." 

Her name is Libby and she always has a smile for Cass when she comes in. Cass doesn't think it's been that long since she was last here; it was no more than a month ago when she was helping Dick with the blown-up bridges. Now Black Bat is back to help Batman and Robin deal with an offshoot of the League of Assassins. Cass is happy to be back in Gotham with the bat on her chest, even if it's only for a while.

Libby's eyes turn to Steph, who is still chatting away to Cass and makes the connection. "And you've brought a friend." She sounds surprised. "Hi."

Cass smiles back and nods. She looks around the café, which is empty for a Thursday afternoon, except for a few students sitting on the battered armchairs by the back wall and two women deep in conversation at one of the tables in the window. The bright yellow walls cast a golden glow over everything and it feels like summer despite the winter chill outside. 

Cass came across the cafe a long time ago. She'd stopped a mugging outside one night and the woman behind the counter, Libby, had heard the commotion and come out to help. She'd looked after the boy who'd been mugged and offered him of use of her phone to temporarily replace the smashed one. The kindness, unusual for Gotham, had impressed Cass and she'd returned the next day. She'd discovered that Libby owned Sereni-Tea. Cass didn't know the meaning of the name – but she'd recognised a few teas she knew on the menu on the window and had gone in. Libby hadn't seen her the night before but she'd still welcomed her warmly as a new customer and been very kind over Cass's hesitation reading the tea list. 

Cass had come back regularly since then and the café had survived all that Gotham had thrown at it. She'd worked her way through all the teas and even came here to study when Alfred had given her language lessons. Talking to Libby and the other girls who worked here had helped her practice. Alfred hadn't come with her but once she'd brought him a take-out cup of their tea and he'd pronounced it good despite the taste of cardboard. So Cass was sure that it was good tea.

She was so glad to find that she hadn't been back when she'd been drugged by Deathstroke. She fears it wouldn't have gone very well for them. 

Cass shakes her head to banish the thought and looked back at menu. What to drink today?

"Tea's not really my thing, I'm more of a coffee kinda girl," Steph says, studying the list of drinks on the wall behind the counter. It is almost all tea. "Maybe hot chocolate if I'm stretched."

"You said you wanted to see what I do in my free time." Cass reminds her. 

Steph nods. "I've always thought tea doesn't really taste of much – like wet leaves." She pulls a face and Cass can tell that she was - what was that word? – exaggerating. 

"I like tea best." Cass says. It's more forceful than she intends and she watches Steph's surprise blossom all over her body. She loves watching Steph; her body always says the same thing as her mouth when she talks to Cass. 

It's one thing that hasn't changed. Much about Steph has changed since Cass had been away. Not the core of her but the differences are visible in the details. She's far more aware of her surroundings and she's full of purpose. She also moves a little like Barbara used to in the videos. It's clear who trained her while Cass was away. 

Cass is glad that they connected. It's what Steph needed and what Barbara needed. 

"Okay, Okay," Steph says. "I'll try something." She smiles. "What's your favourite?"

"You wouldn't like it," Cass says. "It tastes like a fire. Alfred said it was an –." Cass can't remember the word. "Um, he meant that most people find it weird. And you have to drink it lots of times before you like it."

"An acquired taste," Steph supplies. She looks back at the menu. "Okay, maybe not that."

Cass tries to remember the tea that tasted gentle. It had a long name. And she couldn't remember it. She looks for it on the menu but can't see it. The lemony one that Alfred liked in the afternoons had an easier name. "I think you should try… An Early Grey?"

"It isn't actually grey is it? I don't think I could drink something grey." Steph makes another disgusted face. 

Cass giggles and orders. 

They find a table at the back of the café. It's a little wobbly but someone has shoved a folded up paper underneath the shortest leg. Cass watches as Steph sniffs cautiously at her tea and then takes her first sip.

Her reaction isn't outright disgust which is something but after a few confused seconds, she blurts, "Whoa, lemon?" 

"You don't like it?" Cass is disappointed. She wants to show Steph something she'd like. She starts mentally going through other teas = Steph has a sweet tooth, so maybe a fruit tea with honey?

"No, it's-" Steph takes few determined gulps and she looks happier. "It's pretty nice. Just unexpected." She breaks off a piece of her blueberry scone and offers it to Cass.

Cass shakes her head at the scone and sits back in her chair. Steph does like it. 

"So are you back for good?" Steph sounds hopeful and it makes Cass feel really happy. Steph really does miss her. Cass doesn't want to make her sad again.

"No. I'm due back in Hong Kong in a few days." Steph wilts when she hears that. 

"Oh." Things a quiet for a moment and despite Bruce's mission for her, Cass really doesn't want to go back.

"Things going well out there? Anything new?"

Cass nods. "Tim came to help me with a murderous ten-year-old."

"We've had one of those ourselves – although he's not so murdery anymore."

"Damian?"

"Yep. He's grown on me," Steph admits. "I think I'm actually growing fond of the little brat."

"He feels he has a lot to prove but he has good heart."

"Yep." Steph agrees. "But imagine trying to live up to having the Big B as a dad." She shakes her head. "Difficult."

"It is hard." Cass says with feeling. 

Steph nods understandingly and returns to her previous topic. "So where did you get into tea – you were mostly drinking OJ before." On the last word Steph waves her hand to indicate her supposed death and everything that followed.

"I made a friend. She had a place with tea. In Bludhaven." It still hurt to think about the people she knew there. Could she have done anything to help if she'd been closer?

"Oh," Steph says, "I even heard about that when I was in Kenya. I'm sorry, Cass. What happened to her?" 

Cass doesn't know. Why doesn't she know? Benda had gone on her list as someone who had died, along with Zero and Steph. She'd never even thought of any other possibility. 

But Steph was back and Bruce came back. Cass had come back herself too, although she'd definitely been dead. She hadn't thought that Brenda would come back, that seemed reserved for people in their world. Not people like Brenda, who worked every day and who assumed that going out at night and being beaten up meant that you were doing bad things, not wearing a costume and trying to save people. 

"We should find out," Steph decides. "You'll think about her now." 

Cass already is. 

"You can at least go to the Bludhaven memorial to say goodbye before you head back to Hong Kong." She smiles and adds gently, "You could take her some tea." 

It sounds like a very good plan to Cass.

"Look-- I've got class now, but I'm free in about two hours and we can see what we can find." Steph tells her. "If there's nothing on public record, we can bring in the big guns and take it to Barbara."

 

* * * 

Steph dashes into the café a little later than planned and Cass is already waiting with two cups of tea. Both are Ceylon with milk, this time. Steph dumps her backpack on the floor and drops into a chair, exhausted. 

"Good class?" Cass asks as Steph pulls out her laptop and starts pulling up websites. 

Steph shrugs. "Not the best, but at least I didn't fall asleep in this one." She keeps typing.

"Glad you're here. I'm still not good at being a detective," Cass says. 

"I'm not that great but I got a lot of tips from Proxy, did you ever meet her?" Steph says in a low voice, checking that there wasn't anyone close enough to overhear. "Uh, Wendy from the Teen Titans…" Steph trails off, she is clearly remembering Cass's last experience with them. "Anyway, she's in Nanda Parbat now, but she was basically my Oracle for a while before that." She turns her attention back to the laptop, "Right, where to start. Do you know her full name?"

"Brenda Miller."

"Huh, no record with that name on the Bludhaven memorial site, but it isn't complete. Looks like there are two Brenda Millers on the survivors list but there were four in the last Bludhaven phone directory. Do you know her address?" Steph is frowning, a crease of concentration between her eyes.

"She owned the building. It was close to Fort Joseph. Alfred told me the exact address." Cass tries to remember. "I could call him? But I think he's busy with Dick and Damian."

"We can try the maps to see if you recognise it. I wonder if Street View was working then."

Steph sips her tea slowly and carefully as she types. She doesn't make a face, so she might even like it. "Hmm, this is more like the tea they gave me in England – did I tell you about that? Bruce had me at a boarding school. Real Hogwarts stuff, but with assassins instead of Wizards." Cass can hear the pride in her voice. 

"Wizards?"

"Uh, you know, Harry Potter." At Cass's blank look she explains, "They're books but also movies. We should watch one someday. You'd like them."

They pore over the maps and Steph starts pulling up photographs. Cass thinks back to her old patrol route and how it meshed with the map. She points. "It’s there!"

"Right, the intersection of Claggart and Peer Gynt Boulevard." Steph writes something in her notepad.

"We've got the building name too. I'll just cross reference that…" Steph chews the pen absently. Cass is beginning to hope.

"Looks like she had a police record," Steph says, as if Cass didn't know. "Did you know?"

Cass doesn't really want to know why. That is something private for Brenda. If Steph knows, that will be enough for now. "I knew. It was when she was a kid. Someone gave her a hard time because she'd served. I didn't know what that meant then, but my father said that once. It explained a lot. She was good," Cass says firmly. "Very kind to me." 

Steph nods in acknowledgement and Cass carries on, "She wanted to help people. To give them another chance, because she got one. I understood her."

Cass can see the fondness in Steph's eyes directed at her. Steph knows all about second chances and how to use them. She's like Brenda in that way. 

"People used her past against her," Cass continues. "Alfred and Bruce helped. There was a money thing for people like Brenda. A foundation?"

Steph blinks at Cass. "You could've said that before."

Cass rolls her eyes. "I forgot."

"You have access to the Wayne Foundation records, right? They'd've checked everything after Bludhaven. Here." Steph pulls up a new site and enters a few things and then shoves the laptop at Cass. "Put your username and password in here." 

Cass complies and returns the laptop to Steph.

"Got it!" she exclaims a few minutes later. "Great news." She grins at Cass. "Brenda is alive and well and living in New York."

Steph pulls up a photograph and it's Brenda wearing an apron and holding a tray of mugs.

Cass is delighted. 

* * *

"Road trip!" Steph had declared when they'd discovered the good news. Cass still has a couple of days before she needs to be back in Hong Kong and she wants to see Brenda before she goes. Bruce has plans for her to go undercover and it could be months before she'd be able to get back. 

They areoutside Steph's house in one of Bruce's least flashy cars, ready to drive up to New York. Alfred provided the car when he'd heard their plans. He'd remembered Brenda and her excellent tea. "I brought tea – well sort of –" Steph says, waving a box of tea bags. "I have a thermos of water but the internet --" Steph makes quotes with her fingers, "-- told me not to over brew tea. These were the only ones I could find in the store I passed last night. I hope they're ok." 

Cass shrugs. She's never had tea from a cardboard box. The tea Alfred provided always came in tins or wooden boxes. This box is yellow and looks cheerful like Steph's hair. 

"We can get more hot water from a gas station." Steph explains.

The drive to New York wasn't too bad although the tea was terrible. They got confused on all the toll roads but Steph was used to driving vehicles that people got out of the way of and 'wouldn't take crap from any driver' and Oracle's 'super awesome GPS' made it impossible to get lost. Cass mostly dozed. She hadn't had a full night's sleep since she'd been back in the US and last night had been no exception. She'd been up all night chasing a stiletto-wielding assassin all over central Gotham. She and Robin got to him before he'd reached his target but it meant Cass got no sleep.

Alfred had given them the address of a private parking garage fairly close to Brenda's new workplace. So they park the car and walk the few blocks to the tea shop. The air is chilly and there are a few patches of slushy snow in the shade. The tea shop is small and blends in well with the surroundings, with a plain, unassuming exterior.

"This is the place? Hopefully she'll be in." Cass still feels sleepy and misses going through her ritual of waking up and training so she badly wants to stop and stretch out. She doesn't like sleeping in vehicles.

Cass can't see Brenda through the window but a tall girl with braided blue hair is standing there, wiping down the counter. 

"We should ask," Steph says rubbing her eyes.

"Is Brenda in today?" Cass asks as they arrive at the counter. The tea shop is cosy inside and there are a few people at the tables. 

The girl's eyes turn guarded. "Who's asking?"

"I used to know her," Cass says. "Uh, in Bludhaven. She taught me about tea."

The girl's guardedness fades. "Sounds like Brenda. She's out the back." The girl looks over Cass's shoulder to the people starting to pile in behind her, lining up for their dose of morning caffeine. She sounds reluctant when she offers, "I can fetch her if you like. Or she'll be through later with the orders." 

"I can wait," Cass says. Steph snorts softly, from her place at Cass's shoulder and Cass wants to make a face at her. She _is_ good at waiting and a few minutes won't make much difference. 

"Do you want something while you wait?" It's a little pointed. Cass looks at the board. Some tea would be good to remove the taste of Steph's tea. She doesn't recognise any of the names under the big letters spelling out "Speciality Teas" and the girl is clearly in a hurry. This place obviously has a big morning rush. 

Steph rescues her again. "One hazelnut latte and this one will have your best morning tea. What do you recommend for waking people up?" She shoots a teasing grin at Cass, who returns it.

When they are settled on a worn couch, picked by Steph, with a good view of the counter and the entrances, Cass takes a drink of the tea. It's really good. 

Steph is reading the notices pinned on the board next to them. The couch is small enough that she can feel Steph's every movement. She isn't bobbing around as she used to when she was waiting. "Wow, they've got everything on here, from missing cats, to band flyers," Steph says and she points them out for Cass. 

It looks like the noticeboard at Brenda's old café, but it isn't the same. Cass tries to decipher something about poetry, but the writing is messy and it's difficult.

She doesn't have to try for long as a familiar figure soon appears from the door behind the counter.

Steph nudges her immediately, "That's her, right?" 

Brenda hasn't changed much, her hair is still red, but it's longer and the colour has the much lighter ends that Casshas seen a lot recently. She's covered up more, Cass can't see the previously ever-visible spider on her lower back and she has thicker framed glasses. 

Brenda hands some takeout boxes to the waiting customers with a smile and chats with one for a minute. The other girl pauses between orders and whispers in Brenda's ear. Cass can guess what it is as Brenda immediately stiffens and looks around. The other girl makes calming motions but Brenda has stopped paying attention to her.

Cass stands and Brenda spots her. Cass waves and she can feel Steph's tension where their arms are touching.

Brenda squints at Cass and Cass sees the fear fall away. "Cassandra!" she exclaims. 

Cass goes to her and Brenda slips out from behind the counter, ignoring the sour faces of the people waiting in line. 

"You're a face I never expected to see again." Brenda's smile is enormous and Cass knows that her own matches it. She grabs Cass and hugs her tight. It takes time for Cass to relax into it but she hugs back hard.

"I thought you'd gone or were dead. Things got so weird – even for Bludhaven." Brenda holds Cass at arm's length. "Look at you. You haven't changed, have you? Where did you go? What happened? Did you find your Mom?"

Cass doesn't know where to start with the barrage of questions but she's sure Brenda doesn't really need the answers immediately.

Cass can feel her cheeks ache with smiling. It's the best kind of ache.

"Wow. Look, we need to catch up," Brenda looks around at the restless crowd behind her and frowns. "You have time to stick around? At least until the morning crowd has calmed down, in about an hour and a half? Jenny can't cope with this on her own."

Cass nods vigorously. Of course she can.

"Brilliant," she says, squeezing Cass's hand. She looks Cass in the eye, "And I really want to know how you tracked me down."

An hour or so later the three of them are tucked in a corner of the café. Cass has a mug of delicious tea that Brenda made especially, and Steph is halfway through a plate of waffles.

"Mmmm, so good," Steph says to Cass, through a mouthful. "Properly crispy and melty. I approve of your friend." She winks at Brenda, who looks amused.

Cass tells Brenda about some of the things she's done over the last few years. It's a highly edited version and there are things that Cass just doesn't remember even if she could explain them. Steph helps to cover gaps when Cass can't explain. 

In turn Brenda tells them about her life. She'd been meeting a supplier outside Bludhaven when Chemo hit and she still can't quite believe what happened. She hadn't tried to go back as she'd gone straight to her younger sister in New York afterwards. She'd stayed with her sister for a few months until she'd found a job, and had a series of jobs in coffee shops before finding this one, which she loved.

Neither of them mention their fathers or the people they knew in Bludhaven. Cass is delighted to talk to Brenda again and promises to come again when she is back in the US. 

"Think you've got a new favourite café?" Steph teases, after Brenda goes to fetch some more tea. 

Cass thinks before answering. Brenda is here and she likes the tea but the Gotham café has become home. She's surprised how much that means. "Maybe my third favourite now. I'll have to come back more to decide." 

"So you prefer the Gotham one?" Steph says.

Cass nudges Steph. "Gotham things are almost always my favourites."

And Steph beams.

End


End file.
